The hacking disease has returned
How many times have you taken something useful and made it “more useful”? That’s not really the question I want to ask. Rather, how many times have you set out with good intentions, made something useful work less well along the slippery road to success? That’s what separates those of us with inquisitive minds and less than perfect skills from the genii of the world.
I’ve been up to the sport of “fixing stuff” for most of my life. From the first alarm clock that was reduced to a pile of little shiny gears, through my radio phase, into the computer generation. Sometimes, the project doesn’t quite turn out the way it should have. I’ll not embarrass myself by listing the planes that didn’t fly, but I’ve got a few in the back hangar.
Right now, I’m pumped up about the possibilities of my new OLPC. There are hundreds of others with detailed instruction posts in the various forums, and I’m going to have to start reading the WHOLE thing before jumping in. You see, this is a programmed device. One false comma and a program becomes just another useless text file. In their wisdom, the planners left a few back doors in the maze for those who tend to “paint into the corner” when trying new ideas.
Did you know that you can send the poor little machine into a flawless reboot-loop by forgetting to indent a phrase? I do, now, but when the game started it wasn’t as much fun as they (hadn’t) promised. The advice to back up a file before editing is WISE. VERY WISE. By dropping into a terminal session (this is Linux), I was able to undo my stupid typos and get back to where I was much earlier this evening.
This is fun. In a seriously twisted manner, I mean. Fun because the worst thing that can happen is that I have to start all over again with my “mods”. At least no connections have been desoldered in the race to discover. Unlike my radio phase…
If all goes well, I’ll soon be able to carry a funky little computer with me into public places.
